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MayTrut 08-08-112 Truth in the Classroom The
Impact of Progressive Education on the Soul of America Patricia Mays Tate
Publishing, 2008, 257 pp., ISBN 978-1-60604-159-2 |
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Patricia Mays has education training from Moody Bible Institute,
Pensacola Christian College, Purdue University, Murray State University,
Western Kentucky University and the Association of Christian Schools
International. She has taught in
public and Christian schools in Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. And by God's providence she is my
sister-in-law. Mrs. Mays demonstrates through a variety of perspectives, examples,
illustrations, and experiences that our public education will be misdirected, our students will fail to
learn, and our society will continue to decline until our education is built
on truth. "…much of
what we see in a morally declining society has come from the subtle but
unrelenting philosophies that became the foundation of our educational
institutions." (17) "We…are
being consumed by the evil around and within us. We are currently a culture desperately in
need of truth, for truth is always necessary in recognizing and dealing with
evil." (18) "Schools
probably do more to shape the worldviews of our children than do any other
influences they have." "What
we are taught affects how we think, and how we think determines what we will
become." (20) "For the
greater part of our history, Americans embraced the ideals of the Christian
faith. At first the attack on those
beliefs was subtle, but in the last forty to fifty years, we have seen the
Christian religion boldly attacked from all sides." (25) "The
content and direction of education in America has for some time been under
the control of the university rebels of the 1960s and 1970s who cast aside
all that was held sacred in generations past." (27) "Humanism
became the new religion of our public schools." (28) "The nation
has lost its moral compass because our children are being taught in
classrooms devoid of morality and virtue." "When divine authority is denied, all
other authority becomes relative.
Respect for any kind of authority begins to erode." (31) "In many
early American schools, the only textbook was the Bible. As other books were added, they included
morals based on teachings from the Scriptures." (45) "America
lost touch with the fact that this nation was founded on the principles of
God's Word and has endured by God's protection." (46) "The truth
has been kept from our children, and their freedoms are in great
jeopardy. Democracy cannot work
without the truth. Where there is no
fear of God, the worst of man's nature will take over." (51) "Every
philosophy must begin with some assumption about God and about the issue of
truth. The secular philosophy…says
that we, individually, must determine what is right and what is true."
(61) "The
traditional education philosophy says that the purpose of education is to
enable individuals to acquire knowledge and skill in order to prepare for
work, to make life's decisions, and to be better citizens." (72) "The
progressive viewpoint…saw education as the means to the creation of a socialist
society. It was to be the vehicle by
which all of our moral and social problems could be solved. It had less to do with the acquisition of
knowledge and specific skills, and more to do with the development of
appropriate attitudes and social behaviors." (73) Today's
education experts believe in teaching critical thinking, not knowledge.
(77) "Not only are children
having more trouble learning to read, they are less able than ever before to
learn by listening." (79) "School
reform efforts always begin with the question, 'What do we want children to
know and be able to do?'" The
answer is usually left up to education gurus and politicians. They may also ask, 'What do we want them to
become?' This question is legitimate
when there is a genuine consensus about morality and citizenship. (89) "On the
surface, outcome-based education means setting testable goals and then
testing and re-teaching until the goals are obtained. In actuality it is far more than that. A major problem…is that it provides an even
more efficient way for politically correct sentiments based on a false
worldview to make their way into the curriculums of our schools." (90) "If
naturalistic thinking increasingly dominates public education at the primary
and secondary levels, this triumph was possible only because similar thinking
came to dominate the universities long before." (129) "One of the
major problems with outcome-based programs in reform efforts is that parents
know very little about what their children are being taught. It is impossible for the local school board
or the state to monitor the content of the curriculum. Furthermore, many testing experts agree
that test objectives for outcome-based programs are often vague and difficult
to assess reliably." (157) "In years
gone by, children were taught to respect authority. Young people were told by parents that if
they got into trouble at school, they would be in worse trouble when they
came home. The atmosphere today is
nothing remotely similar."
"Students have become increasingly more unruly and
disruptive. They have become more
violent toward each other and teachers and administrators. To make things even worse, many parents
defend their rebellious children and work against the school." (175) "Everyone
wants discipline in the schools unless it is their own child who is being
disciplined." (175) "The
attitude that pervades our society says there is no place in an educated,
progressive society for punishment." (179) "Teaching
children is one of the most difficult jobs on earth. Christian parents ought to pray for the
physical, mental, and spiritual health of their child's teacher." (186) "It is most
likely that the behavior disorders, emotional disturbance, violence, and even
suicide among children may in far too many cases be linked to [the] breakdown
in the family." (187) "Too many
children are sleep deprived, overly stimulated, depressed, angry, confused,
and emotionally starved. Is it any
wonder that we are seeing an escalation of extreme discipline problems in our
schools and throughout our culture?" (188) "Everything
taught through the public schools in recent years has been touched in some
way by the philosophy of humanism and its accompanying theology." "It would appear that the only hope
for a return to education based on knowledge of the truth is for parents to
exercise choice." (193) "Taxpayers
recoil from the idea of funding religious instruction with which they do not
agree. However, shouldn't we be
equally as concerned about funding so many unwholesome government-sanctioned
ideologies masquerading as truth?" (194) Here are some of
the religious rights children have at school: ●
"The
right to pray individually or in groups, or to discuss religious views with
peers ●
The
right to express their religious beliefs in the form of reports, homework,
and artwork ●
The
right to meet in religious clubs in secondary schools on the same basis as
other clubs ●
The
right to student-initiated prayer at school activities ●
The
right to learn about religion as long as no religion is promoted or school
endorsed" (201-02) The theory of
evolution is the atheistic foundation for most of the worldviews that stand
in opposition to truth. (207)
"Evolution in reality is more philosophy than true science, and
the secular humanists it has produced have staked everything on it."
(210) "God gave
the responsibility for raising and educating children first to parents. They will ultimately be held accountable
for their children. It is crucial for
Christians to develop in our children a distinctly Bible-centered Christian
view of life and a lifestyle consistent with that view if we are to be a
positive influence on our society.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear that for most of us this
objective cannot be realized in the context of public schooling at this
time." (242) "The
textbooks no longer portray America as a religious nation, and our founding
fathers, if mentioned at all, certainly are not portrayed as men of true
faith in God. Their characters and
morals have been called into question.
Revisionist history is fast replacing traditional history in many
schools. Particularly disturbing are
books and videos that portray America as aggressors using religion as an
excuse to overpower defenseless people.
Anti-American sentiment has been escalating among the liberal crowd in
our nation for some time." (243) "There is
good reason to believe that every problem our nation faces and every threat
to our democratic way of life can be linked to false philosophies that have
taken control of our thinking. Every failed program in public schools,
whether it is the teaching of reading and math or sex education and
wrong-headed self-esteem efforts, is somehow tied into flawed
philosophies. Everything in life does
begin and end with the spiritual.
There is a reason why some things build up and others tear down. This universe works in an orderly fashion
because an orderly God created it.
That same orderly Creator has spoken ultimate truth. He has told us that wisdom, knowledge, and understanding
come from him. When that truth is
denied, anything built on the resulting philosophy is inevitably going to
fail. Not only will it fail to produce
what it promises, it will bring destruction to the soul." (244) "The only
hope that we have for the continued blessings of liberty and the pursuit of
happiness must come through a return to the faith of our fathers." (245) |
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